1998 Meursault Rougeots

A number of Coche '98s appear to have lost some of their clarity and to have developed a hard edge during the second half of their levage with the result that the bottled wines do not show the compelling aromatics and layered textures that fans of this superb domain crave. No doubt this was due in part to Coche's use of the lees, which were not entirely healthy in '98, especially in vineyards hard-hit by frost and oidium. For his own part, Coche is clearly not enamored of these wines; he made a point of showing me the '98s quickly before turning to his '99s, which promise to make classic Coche bottles. Even the bourgogne blanc should be a standout in '99.

In late May, Jean-Francois Coche still was musing about the crazy weather conditions of 1998. "We had the first frost on the hillside since 1945, and the first serious sunburn since 1947," said Coche, who removed 10% of his Corton-Charlemagne grapes with tweezers for fear of getting a burnt taste in the wine. And if that wasn't enough of a challenge, a helicopter carrying out vineyard treatments crashed into his Corton-Charlemagne plot during the summer, destroying 45 vines. Coche, reliably conservative when it comes to rating vintages, describes 1998 as "une bonne moyenne " But the average for Coche is better than exceptional for most white wine producers of the Cote d'Or. Although the fruit came in with slightly lower sugars than in the previous year, Coche did very little batonnage as the wines already possessed enough fat following the extended alcoholic fermentations.